Conventionally, in a typical weft knitting machine, a knitted fabric is produced by letting a carriage travel back and forth along the longitudinal direction of a needle bed on which a large number of knitting needles are provided to be juxtaposed to each other. The carriage is provided with a knitting cam for letting the knitting needles perform a knitting operation. To the knitting needles performing a knitting operation, a knitting yarn is supplied from a yarn carrier that is brought by the carriage. In a weft knitting machine that is provided with at least the front and the rear needle beds, yarn guide rails are installed above a needle bed gap in which the front ends of the knitting needles proceeding from the front and the rear needle beds are opposed to each other, so as to face the needle bed gap, and yarn carriers suspended from the yarn guide rails travel along the yarn guide rails. Carriages are provided at the front and the rear needle beds and linked to each other by a bridge straddling the yarn guide rails. Pins for letting the carriages bring the yarn carriers can project and withdraw at the bridge and are engaged with the yarn carriers in the projecting state. An engagement position of the pin and the yarn carrier is normally set to be a position in which a knitting yarn is supplied from the yarn carrier at a timing at which the front ends of the knitting needles recede from the needle bed gap after proceeding thereinto when the knitting needles are led to perform a knitting operation by the knitting cam.
When a yarn carrier for supplying a knitting yarn at a normal timing and a yarn carrier for supplying a knitting yarn prior to the normal timing so as not to be hooked on knitting needles are used in combination, it is possible to perform inlay knitting (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 55-148256, for example). According to JP-A 55-148256, a yarn feeding member corresponding to a yarn carrier for inlay knitting shown in FIGS. 5 to 9 has a shape different from that of a yarn feeding member for knitting a normal knitted fabric shown in FIG. 4. The shapes are different because the yarn feeding members supply knitting yarns at different timings by being engaged with pins at different positions with respect to a yarn feeding position. The positions of the front ends of the yarn feeding members for supplying knitting yarns at the needle bed gap are also different between the yarn feeding member for normal knitting and the yarn feeding member for inlay knitting.
In the yarn carrier brought by the carriage, by lifting the pin, engagement can be released and a travel thereof can be halted, so that it is possible to produce a knitted fabric, changing knitting yarns by changing yarn carriers in the middle of the course in which the knitted fabric is produced. When the carriage travels to the end portion of the knitting width and the yarn carrier abuts against a stopper that has been provided on the yarn guide rail, the pin is pushed up by, for example, a slope, and thus engagement with the pin can be mechanically released. In JP-A 55-148256, a configuration is shown in which with respect to the yarn feeding member for normal knitting shown in FIG. 4, the front end of the pin that has been engaged with an engagement point runs over a slope provided at a stopper and thus the engagement is released. With respect to the yarn feeding member for inlay knitting shown in FIGS. 5 to 9, a configuration is disclosed in which a switching component provided at the yarn feeding member can be displaced relatively back and forth, and when the front end of the switching component abuts against a stopper, the switching component recedes and a slope formed at the switching component pushes up the front end of the pin from the engagement point and thus the engagement is released.
The yarn feeding member for inlay knitting disclosed in JP-A 55-148256 is only for inlay knitting, and thus a timing at which a knitting yarn is supplied so as not to be hooked at a position where the knitting needles perform a knitting operation by the action of the knitting cam mounted on the carriage, and a position in which a knitting yarn is supplied at the needle bed gap are different from those of the yarn feeding member for normal knitting. This method by which the yarn feeding member for normal knitting and the yarn feeding member for inlay knitting are used in combination to produce a knitted fabric enables an inlay knitted fabric to be produced effectively when the knitting width is substantially constant. However, when the knitting width changes, it is impossible to produce a good inlay knitted fabric. More specifically, in the case where the knitting width changes, a better knitted fabric can be produced when the end portions are tucked and hooked on the knitting needles also in the course of inlay knitting. However, in the yarn feeding member only for inlay knitting, a timing at which a knitting yarn is supplied with respect to a knitting operation of knitting needles led by the knitting cam is different from that of the yarn feeding member for normal knitting, and thus it is impossible to supply a knitting yarn for a knitting operation of the knitting needles included in the knitting timing such as tucking.